Over the Hills and Far Away: A Look at Black Butler: Book of Circus

(As with my last entry, part of what I want to discuss in this post is the ending, so if you have not seen Book of Circus, be aware that there are spoilers towards the end.)

After the controversial ending of Black Butler II induced a virulent rage in the fan base, many people had given up on the idea of the show ever having another season. The reaction that the viewers had towards the entire season in general seemed to be a mixed bag, and most felt that it wasn't worth it for A-1 Pictures to bother resurrecting the show for another outing. There didn't appear to be a story left to tell, and most of their audience would end up either avoiding a new season altogether or approaching it with preset negativity. For the most part, the fans were content to enjoy season one and the OVA's as they were and, if they felt so inclined, ignore everything that happened in season two for their own headcannons.

Then early in 2014, it was announced that Black Butler would be returning for a third season for the summer anime block later that year.

And all of the fans unanimously did a face-palm.

There was a catch, however: Instead of taking the story forward from where season two ended, A-1 would be returning to the manga and animating the Noah's Ark Circus story--the arc directly following the curry competition from season one and where the show first deviated from its source material. Everything after the curry competition, including the ending of the first season and all of the events of the second, where effectively being retconned to make way for this arc to take its place in continuity.

Of course, for a lot of people this news didn't make them any more excited to watch the new season. Between the fact that the highly-praised ending of season one was no longer cannon and the general discontent that was still echoing across the fanbase, people were skeptical that the show could return with any semblance of dignity. Caution was the word for almost every viewer who went into episode one.

So it's a good thing this season is far from terrible.

I'm going to be honest here, since this is basically a review and all, and say this: Book of Circus takes the number one spot for me in terms of where I see the three seasons (and the OVA, Book of Murder). I loved this season. I loved it more than the first one, even though that one was the first time I had ever experienced so much affection for an anime. Out of all the seasons I think that it's the most well-paced, well-balanced, and effective, even though it's only ten episodes long.

It's actually kind of hard to determine whether or not Book of Circus is supposed to be an official season or if it's more of a spin-off type deal considering it's brevity. A lot of people found the continuity and timeline to be confusing, but for me I tend to look at it as taking place between the curry competition and the anime-only events of season one, much like where they said it was supposed to fit. I don't think it works perfectly, since I'm sure there are discrepancies between the seasons, but thinking of it that way allows me to get the best of both worlds: the amazing arc presented here and the phenomenal ending of the first season. Regardless of where it fits in the larger story, though, I feel that this arc has the ability to--for the most part--stand on its own as a single piece of work.

The plot: When a number of children in England begin disappearing in accordance with the routes of a traveling circus, Ciel is instructed by the Queen to investigate. Taking with him his faithful butler Sebastian, the two go undercover inside the Noah's Ark Circus to find the children and figure out what the members of the troupe have to do with the kidnappings.

I'm not sure what it is about this season that grabbed me by the ears and didn't let go. I suppose it has something to do with my love of color and the entire circus aesthetic, both of which feature prominently in this season (as the title would imply). The overall design of the show, from the title cards that have a 19th-century puppet show vibe to them to the saturated and rich colors in each of the circus characters and Ciel's circus costume oozes with things that I find appealing. Not to mention that there's something inherently spooky about circuses, which I think fits well with the rest of Black Butler's tone.

Speaking of things I loved, how 'bout that animation? Black Butler has always had pretty solid animation even in it's weaker moments, so saying that it's well-drawn is kind of redundant. Season two stepped it up a bit by looking a little more polished, as if the animators had gotten into the swing of how the characters moved. Here, though, I think it looks even better. It may just be the colors and the often dramatic lighting (the nighttime scenes around the circus tents are beautiful), but this season looks the best overall, even more than Book of Murder which came after it. There's a richness to all of the colors, solidarity and smoothness of the line work, and some fantastic and fluid action sequences.

Oh, and that opening. Holy dear gracious is that opening fantastic.

I'm not going to say that I dislike any of the other openings to Black Butler, but I do think season one's tend to be little on the generic side and neither of season two's really grab me in the same way this one does. By episodes two or three in the previous seasons I was skipping the openings entirely, but I could watch this opening on repeat thirty times in a row and love it every time. There's a lot of well-choreographed animation and beautiful stylistic choices in this 90-second clip that make it worth watching more than once just to take everything in. The song choice is also smart, especially the weird opening electronic tune and strumming on the guitar that has a folkish feel to it. They both fit well with the show's aesthetic. This opening is a perfect introduction to what you're about to watch--it was made specifically for this story. Plus I have listened to the song so many times that I have gotten to the point where I can kinda sorta mumble the words in botched Japanese and make the necessary garbled noises when I can't sing them

I like this thing so damn much that here it is embedded in this post because you need to watch it if you haven't had the opportunity:

But aside from the visuals, I have a lot of respect for everyone involved, from Miss Toboso to the animators and everyone in between, for the amount of research that went into this arc. Victorian circuses were actually a really big deal. They were considered a pretty lucrative--if challenging and often dangerous--business, tending to attract large crowds wherever they went, and had the potential to make people a lot of money. Part of their appeal was the fact that they traveled to their audiences--much like they do in this show. They would tour from the biggest cities to the smallest towns, and the invention and development of the railroad enabled large circuses to travel even farther. The daring and outrageous acts that many troupe members performed captivated the Victorians and made circuses one of the most prominent forms of entertainment in the mid-19th century.

All of the big, main acts in the Noah's Ark Circus* are historically relevant, too. Even their costumes are pretty spot-on, with the exception of Beast's corset. There's...no way that would have flown in Victorian England. At all.

Of all of the seasons, Book of Circus is far and away the most evenly-paced. Since there are only ten episodes, all of the potential fluff and filler is eliminated to make way for the plot. The only possible weak point is the first episode that spends a lot of time retreading old ground. It doesn't have much to do with the rest of the story, but it does efficiently set up the characters (the fact that this episode was treated in such a fashion adds to the confusion of whether or not this is meant to be a spin-off, stand-alone, or sequel) and the scene in which Ciel and Sebastian inform their guest that they know of his plot to kill Ciel is so damn neat visually that I can't say it isn't still enjoyable.

After three seasons, I think the show finally began to gain its footing in the tone department, as the amount of disjointedness between comedy and drama is much better balanced here than in the previous two seasons. Most of the jokes are circumstantial rather than contrived, pulling from Ciel's frustration with having to live a poor lifestyle while undercover as a new member of the troupe and possessing absolutely no special skills whatsoever. Sebastian's method of redirecting the knives Ciel throws and preventing him from falling off the tightrope without being caught is brilliant and hysterical. At the same time, the show is serious when it needs to be and the humor never feels like it's impeding on the real tone. Towards the back end of the season, there are hardly any jokes at all, which is fitting given the outcome of the entire investigation (although there was one joke in either the ninth or tenth episode involving Grell that got me to laugh pretty hard, and I don't even find Grell to be particularly funny).

There is one area in which the series falls a little flat and that's in the characterization. The members of the troupe are not as fleshed out and real as I think they could have been. That isn't to say they're all flat--Joker and Doll have the most solid characterization of all the main cast (aside from the leads), but they also get the greatest amount of screen time as the leader of the circus and Ciel's new BFF, respectively. Beast and Dagger are almost there for me; there's enough information that I can still somewhat care about them and their ultimate fates do strike a chord, but I couldn't give you more than a handful of words to describe them. I know next to nothing about Peter, Wendy, and Jumbo, which made it hard for me to care about what happens to them. Not to mention the supposed romance between Beast and Joker feels shoe-horned into the story and has very little attention or purpose brought to it.

The flashbacks that take up the first third of the final episode of the series give information about the circus "family" that we could have used much earlier. They're a really moving set of scenes that supply some needed characterization too little too late.

The actual "villain" of this story took me by surprise, though I guess in retrospect it shouldn't have. It's not so much that the primary antagonist isn't involved or directly responsible for the atrocities that go on related to the circus and carried out by its members; it's just that they take it one step further, and the added layer of involvement on the part of that person makes the story even more disturbing that it already was. And that's saying a lot.

What I did love, however, was how there was a lot of focus on Ciel's development as a character. We get to see a bit more into his past, specifically the torture that he endured at the hands of that strange cult and the formation of his deal with Sebastian (though Sebastian's demon form is still ambiguous aside from those killer stiletto heels). This arc centers on Ciel's weaknesses as a human, from his inability to hold his own at the circus; his frequent physical sickness as a young child, including asthma; and his absolute mental breakdown that happens once he finds himself back in the place that he was tortured. Despite all of this, Ciel still holds onto his pride and nobility as an earl, never once doubting who he is or where his loyalties lie. Ciel doesn't pretend to be good. He only does what is his duty and tries to keep his emotions (and conscience) out of the equation, doing whatever it takes to get "over the hills and far away."

Ciel isn't unlike the circus troupe. They each have experienced a great deal of pain over the course of their lives and take extreme measures to pull themselves back up and survive; they're all striving to get somewhere better, to achieve a level of success or satisfaction within themselves. The issue with Ciel, though, is that his moments of arrogance are backed by a great deal of self-awareness. When Sebastian tells him that his assumption that the children they found were better off dead was quite arrogant, his response is: "Yes, I'm arrogant. But not arrogant enough to make irresponsible boasts that I can save others." Ciel recognizes his weaknesses. According to him, Sebastian "brought the necessary strength [needed to survive], and that's the only reason [he] recovered." He doesn't presume that if he were to escape his torture that he would have been okay. He knows that the only hope he has is found in Sebastian--a terrible and tragic thing, as the pact doesn't ultimately give him any hope at all for his soul.

Which makes the entire scene in the final episode where Sebastian carries in his arms a frightened and slightly psychotic Ciel out from the roaring flames of Lord Kelvin's burning mansion all the more poignant. Ciel clings to the only thing he has, and that happens to be the demon that wants to claim his soul.

Plus, I mean, that entire scene is so gorgeously animated that you can feel the emotion coming off of both characters. The music, a melancholy instrumental string piece, compliments it all so well.

All of this culminates in a character that really is quite unpredictable. You're never sure what is going on in Ciel's head or how he truly feels about certain situations. His actions make sense after the fact, but often times they feel like they blindside you. This isn't a bad thing. It adds complexity to an already well-developed character and allows him to stand on his own as intriguing next to someone like Sebastian who is, for all intents and purposes, god-like in his abilities.

Sebastian is just as present and delightful as always, but with Ciel's story and that of the other characters, he tends to fade off into the background a little due to his pretty static characterization. That being said, he still does a lot and is the reason why Ciel is able to get into the circus at all. One thing that stands out even from the other seasons is that Sebastian gets the opportunity to laugh--really laugh, which I don't believe we see until now. He certainly gets a kick out of Ciel's irritation and frustration, whether it's over his nickname being "Smile" or the fact that Doll ends up sleeping in his bed with him while he recovers from an asthma attack. His scenes with the reaper William are also great; we get to see him interacting one-on-one with someone that isn't Ciel, Grell, or a Phantomhive servant. William's flat hatred of him comes out the best comically when he refuses to touch Sebastian during a certain trapeze act, requiring Sebastian to get creative in finding a way to complete the performance without Will's cooperation.

There are great darker moments with him, too. The look on his face when Ciel screams at him to burn the mansion to ashes with the children still inside is enough to set some viewers aback. It's one of the few times we see him questioning his master's orders. As I mentioned above, the scene where he carries Ciel away from the burning mansion is a striking moment as well. There's an expression he has after taking care of Doll that implies Sebastian might have, if not regret, but some sympathy for the people of this entire season. Maybe. But that's all part of the charm of Sebastian's character: You never really know what he's thinking (kind of like Ciel *wink wink*).

Oh, and his ending speech? It's not particularly unique or saying anything that hasn't been said before,  but the last sentence I think speaks volumes about who he is: Perhaps that's why humans are so interesting. Whether or not other demons see humans as interesting is debatable, but I'm going to assume that thinking of what's supposed to be your food in such a fashion is probably out of the ordinary.

However, there is one thing in regards to Sebastian's character that I am going to continue to complain about because it annoys the hell out of me. I don't like how they are continuing this trope of putting Sebastian in sexual situations in order to "get information" out of female characters. At least in season one it was sort of done for laughs (though I think everything leading up to the actual act itself was funnier) but here it's played straight and in a manner that I find to completely unsettling. I'm not a prude. I don't have an issue with sex in a show, but I like that sex to serve a purpose, and to me this entire charade here did not. If anything, it left me confused about Beast's character. She makes it clear that she knows exactly what Sebastian is doing in seducing her, seems rightfully horrified at the thought, and then has sex with him anyway. And it's not even like she seems excited or interested in it at all. She just lays on the bed all mopey and explains a little about the family and their history with "Father," and then bam--it's done.

Maybe it's not so much the scene itself that aggravates me as it is the fan reaction to it. I get that Sebastian is attractive--trust me, I do. He is an ingeniously designed character and there's nothing wrong with fawning over someone for that. My issue is that, regardless of how good-looking he is, Sebastian is still a freaking demon and his appearance is not even his real form or face. That's like one step below screwing the Devil and no thanks, but I'll pass. Yet I see the squealing everywhere and it boggles my mind how many girls are turned on by this scenario.

Anyway.

There are some people who feel that the ending to Book of Circus wasn't as complete as a stand-alone work should be, and to some extent I can see that. We don't get much of a conclusion to the larger story, which is Ciel's search for the killer of his parents. What it does do well, however, is conclude this particular arc. Maybe it's because I read a lot of comics and have gotten used to the idea of storytelling being broken up into coherent arcs, but the lack of solid closure didn't bother me in the slightest. The final twist reveal in the last episode is one of those moments that leave you with your mouth hanging open and your brain repeating "Damn..." over and over again. Ciel's maniacal laughter that follows the realization is both disturbing and fitting. I like how they play a soft piano cover of the "Tom, Tom the Piper's Son"** nursery rhyme that repeats in some form throughout the season while the spirits or ghosts or whatever they're supposed to be of the circus troupe float across the rather beautifully-drawn sky and take turns grabbing hold of Ciel's own "top knot" from his hat. Some people felt that it was a little corny, and I'd by lying if I said I couldn't see that. But given the grim and unrelenting darkness of this season, the bittersweet ending felt much needed. I'll take the cheese if I can get some kind of peace for my soul that spent ten episodes breaking in two.

If you watch nothing else of Black Butler, I'd strongly encourage you to watch this season. It's a solid story with some beautiful artwork and captivating character moments that will make your heart want to burst.

*****

*It's never really explained why the name of the circus here is Noah's Ark Circus. It's another Western reference, though not one that's limited to just Britain. The biblical story of Noah's Ark tells of how one man built a massive boat to house a pair of every animal species as well as Noah and his family while God flooded the earth, effectively creating a sort of floating refuge once everyone and everything else was dead. One could interpret the name as symbolic of the circus troupe's own refugee status, since they were all abandoned and found a new home through this occupation. The circus was their Noah's ark. Or Miss Toboso could have just thought it sounded cool. Who knows.

**"Tom, Tom the Piper's Son" is a traditional English nursery rhyme that was first published in 1795 in chapbook form. It became a popular tune in England during the 19th century, though the original song was only the first verse of what is often printed as a much larger work and had been around long before publication. The origin of this more well-known first verse of the song (the one sung in the show), as well as the tune, is unknown. Ciel also mentions Mother Goose when he asks Joker about the song. Mother Goose was the name of the fictitious character in collections of English nursery rhymes and has appeared in various printed forms for centuries. The collections often contain rhymes like "London Bridge is Falling Down," "Mary Had a Little Lamb," and obviously "Tom, Tom the Piper's Son."